Well if you were to ask Antoine Dodson, he’d probably tell you to “hide yo kids, hide yo wives”, but of course the NCSE (National Center for Science Education) simply wants a bit of your personal info.

Here’s a tidbit from one of their mailers:

Incidents of antievolutionary activity often require swift coordinated local action, and the fastest and most efficient way for NCSE to get in touch with its members when creationism threatens is by e-mail.

I wonder if the NCSE has considered implementing their own version of the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory System (right).

Judging by the paranoia-laced paragraph in their mailer (“antievolutionary activity” etc.), it might not be a bad idea. What does “swift coordinated local action” entail anyway? S.W.A.T. teams armed with copies of PBS’ “Evolution” series? A burnt offering consisting of creationist material? A Blackhawk helicopter dispersing hundreds of anti-creationist leaflets over areas afflicted with Biblical literacy?

Then again, after the construction of AiG’s “unsettling” Creation Museum, I’m sure the terror level would perpetually reside in wavelengths greater than approx. 585 nm.

Advisory system or not, every responsible citizen should make sure to report any suspicious “antievolutionary activity” to their nearest public school. That way, they can put you in contact with the NCSE and you can file your report. Constant vigilance!

Pretty soon we’re going to have to redo the old joke: Pentecostals believe there is a demon under every rock, Baptists believe there is a Pentecostal under every rock and the NCSE believes there is a creationist under every rock.

I have heard great things (from great people) about Ecclesia, a local church which by all accounts caters to the younger set who are ________ (verb) with church as usual, whatever that means.

The church is located near downtown Houston in an area known as Montrose. The area is progressive (so-called), and reminds me of Austin. Back in my high school days, we used to make crude and sophomoric jokes about the area due to it being the epicenter of Houston’s gay community.

I cannot think of a better place than Montrose to place a church. The Houston Press is the local so-called progressive paper (so much so that it’s free!), much like the Austin Chronicle in that fair city.

The piece appears to be fair to its subject, though the constant (though hardly surprising) bashing of “religious institutions” on the part of the Press not to mention some of the interviewees is a bit tired and overly simplistic. Why let reality get in the way of pet perceptions?

Also, there is nothing like a solid f-bomb from a congregant (especially when describing the humanity of the church’s elders) to give a church some modicum of street cred in an area like Montrose.

Not sure what a “gay-recovery program” is but Pastor Seay was quick to point out that,

We [Ecclesia] are definitely not starting any gay-recovery programs. We hate that stuff.

Apparently Seay’s words are given further elucidation by the Press. The Press writer cheekily reminds the reader,

Then again, Seay once told Mother Jones magazine that, while he condemns homosexuality, “It is no different than sleeping around or chronic masturbation.” In fact, it’s no fun being gay without sleeping around and chronic masturbation, he somehow didn’t go on to say.

Then as if to hang Ecclesia and her mission on her own petards,

Contributing to the hard feelings on the messageboards is the fact that Ecclesia holds itself out as being different from establishment churches.

The best quote of all is from a resident who for better or for worse picks up the banner and waves it from the top of Chapultepec Castle,

“It’s not like they are First Baptist — love ’em or hate ’em, you know exactly WHAT they are and why they would be in the neighborhood,” wrote one resident. “This…this seems dishonest and creepy.”

Forget the fact that Seay “hates” these kind of programs, I guess that’s not enough for our concerned resident. Could it be that her incredulity is based on the perception some people have of “religious institutions”?

It would have been good to ask this person to elaborate on First Baptist and “WHAT they are and why they would be in the neighborhood”?

See (no pun intended)? It always comes back to the establishment churches, to quote the great golden philosopher,

In a strange way, the rise of atheist Sunday Schools illustrates the central dilemma of atheism itself. Try as they may, atheists cannot avoid talking about God — even if only to insist that they do not believe in Him. Now, atheist parents are organizing Sunday Schools as a parallel to the Christian practice. In effect, atheists are organizing themselves in a way similar to a local church. At least some of them must sense the awkward irony in that.